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November—The Chimney-sweep.
十一月——烟囱扫除人
November 1st.
11月1日
Yesterday afternoon I went to the girls' school building, near ours, to give the story of the boy from Padua to Silvia's teacher, who wished to read it. There are seven hundred girls there. Just as I arrived, they began to come out, all greatly rejoiced at the holiday of All Saints and All Souls; and here is a beautiful thing that I saw: Opposite the door of the school, on the other side of the street, stood a very small chimney-sweep, his face entirely black, with his sack and scraper, with one arm resting against the wall, and his head supported on his arm, weeping copiously and sobbing. Two or three of the girls of the second grade approached him and said, "What is the matter, that you weep like this?" But he made no reply, and went on crying.
昨天午后我到附近的一个女子小学校里去。雪尔维姊姊的先生说要看《少年爱国者》，所以我拿给她看。那学校大约有七百个女小孩，我去的时候正放学。因为从明天起接连有“万圣节”、“万灵节”两个节日，学生们正在欢喜高兴地回去。我在那里看见一件很美的事：在学校那一边的街路角里，立着一个脸孔墨黑的烟囱扫除人。他还是个小孩，一手靠着了壁，一手托着头，在那里暖泣。有两三个三年级女学生走近去问他：“怎么了？为什么这样哭？”他总不回答，仍旧哭着。
"Come, tell us what is the matter with you and why you are crying," the girls repeated. And then he raised his face from his arm, —a baby face, —and said through his tears that he had been to several houses to sweep the chimneys, and had earned thirty soldi, and that he had lost them, that they had slipped through a hole in his pocket,—and he showed the hole,—and he did not dare to return home without the money.
“来！快告诉我们，怎么了？为什么哭的？”女孩子再问他，他才渐渐地抬起头来。那是一个小孩似的脸，哭着告诉她们，说扫除了好几处烟囱，得着三十个铜币，不知什么时候从口袋的破相里漏掉了。说着又指破孔给她们看。据说，如果没有钱就不能回去。
"The master will beat me," he said, sobbing; and again dropped his head upon his arm, like one in despair. The children stood and stared at him very seriously. In the meantime, other girls, large and small, poor girls and girls of the upper classes, with their portfolios under their arms, had come up; and one large girl, who had a blue feather in her hat, pulled two soldi from her pocket, and said:
“师父要打的！”他说着又哭了起来，把头俯伏在臂上，很为难的样子。女学生们围着他看，觉到他很可怜。这时其余的女学生也夹了书包来了。有一个帽子上插着青羽的大女孩从袋里拿出两个铜币来说：
"I have only two soldi; let us make a collection."
“我只有两个，再凑凑就好了。”
